4 parking scenarios in Queens - are the parking apps helpful?

[We are so pleased that Anne Shishler-Hughes spent time working with these two parking apps, which have the potential to really help you out when the going gets rough when it’s time to park. We were inspired to create this piece by this article from the New Yorker blog, “Parking: the Agonies and the Ecstasies” by Thomas Beller. Enjoy! -Ed.]

When it comes to finding a parking spot in Queens, especially in the borough’s bustling commercial districts, you’ve really got to want it.  However, if you make an impatient decision and put yourself in an iffy spot, the price can be high. Parking in the wrong zone can get you a ticket anywhere from $65 to $185 – and they’ll come back more than once and re-ticket you for the same offense!

It’s worth it to take a little time to figure out exactly what the legal status of any stretch of sidewalk is, and there are apps designed to help you save time from deciphering street signs or driving endlessly around blocks scouting out spaces that might be off-limits anyway.

The two main parking apps available in New York City are smart phone applications ParkPal and Primo Spot. Although they are imperfect, they’re generally reliable for all New York City public street parking. We took four different parking scenarios in Queens and put ParkPal and Primo Spot to the test.

ParkPal, available for the iPhone and iPad, touts itself as “New York’s best parking application,” with information drawn from the City’s Department of Transportation, enabling the user to feel confident that his/her space is legal. What you’ll see on the screen is a Google map featuring lines on both sides of streets drawn in four different colors, indicating in dark green that parking is open and available overnight; in light green that parking is open but not overnight; in yellow that parking is limited to one hour; and in red that parking is prohibited.

Clicking on any given colored line brings a full schedule of parking on that street for each day of the week. The color of a block will change according to the time of day ParkPal is referenced. Parking lots and garages are also shown. Download for free here.

Primo Spot, available for iphones and Androids, takes this idea a step further by showing you how much time you would be able to park in any given zone, a great approach for the dad needing an hour for karate class or a real estate agent needing a few hours for apartment showings.

Once you’ve typed in your location and desired parking duration, what comes up is a smattering of three-dimensional pins on city blocks, which change in real time. Green pins indicate there would be more than four hours available to you in a spot; yellow indicates ‘cutting it close;’ red is ‘dangerous;’ and dark grey is a ‘bad idea.’ All the interpretation has been done for you.

Clicking on a pin will show you the actual street signs posted on that block, so while they still not make sense, the amount of time you’d be able to park in that space has already been calculated for you. And, the appearance of a yellow star means that a space is about to become available (because, for example, street sweeping is about to expire), which can be advantageous.

Parking lots are shown with hourly rates, helping you choose a lot that works for your budget without driving around, as are the locations of public bike racks – these are separate tabs and do not appear on one image. This app will also keep track of where you parked and will alert you when your time on the meter is up. Download for $2.99 here.

Note: this is not a technological review of the applications, more of a double-checking of the information provided based on real-time knowledge of what kind of parking is available in these locations.

Seeing a movie at Sunnyside Center Cinemas, 42-17 Queens Boulevard, Sunnyside

Finding parking anywhere along the main artery of our borough – especially in the shopping districts – can be harrowing. Many stretches of Queens Boulevard have one-hour parking during the day and then switch to free after 7 pm. This switch is indicated on ParkPal. Clicking on the grey meter pins instructs you that there are three different periods of metered spaces available – one-hour, two-hour, and down the road a few blocks, 4-hour. Both show the parking lot options.

Parking off-school hours in front of the Kew Forest School, 119-17 Union Turnpike, Forest Hills

Many people drive to and park at this location in order to go into Manhattan on the E or F Trains in the evening.  Are they allowed to park in front of a school loading zone? Yes, they are – from 4 pm to 7 am the next morning, but you wouldn’t know it using Primo Spot, which has no information at all for that block. ParkPal correctly shows the block in red during the daytime and in light green in the evening.

Having lunch at Jackson Diner, 37-47 74th Street, Jackson Heights

Oddly, ParkPal had no information whatsoever on the blocks surrounding the Jackson Diner whereas Primo Spot gives exhaustive detail as to what’s available. Jackson Diner’s 74th Street is a combination of no-daytime access (bad idea! warns Primo Spot) and metered locations, with plenty of solid green blocks surrounding, but if you’re out of luck there, there’s a parking lot just around the corner.

Staying overnight with a friend at The View Condominiums, 46-30 Center Boulevard, Long Island City

If any area is ripe for a SpotSwitch opportunity, the neighborhood between Vernon and Center Boulevards is it. While there are many free overnight blocks, there are twice as many cars owned by residents. While it’s true that Center Boulevard is a rapidly changing situation, with construction limiting sparking in some areas, ParkPal gives very little information on Center, while Primo Spot shows that there are both metered spaces and free spaces up and down the stretch. ParkPal does a better job showing nearby parking garage locations, which might be the best way to go.

Both of these programs are largely correct in their information. While both will definitely save you time and potentially money, Primo Spot is geared toward your specific parking need at any given time, making the evaluative decisions for you. Living and driving around Queens may cause you to do things behind the wheel you’ve never had to do before – last-minute U-turns, backing up one-way streets, double standing – but at least, with the help of some smart technology, you can avoid truly illegal parking.